The Horror: Obnoxious Opponents

Last week I wanted to quit this hobby whole hog because I played Fantasy with an obnoxious opponent* on a Friday evening. I soon regretted it.

Here's a few examples of my opponent's sins:

1. Bragging loudly to other gamers in the store about how I had not caused "one single wound" to his army.

2. Saying things like "So that's 11 more dead Gnoblars!" with a gleeful, taunting voice instead of just saying "11 wounds -- do you get a save?" with some sportsmanlike concern.

3. Forcing us to count out combat resolution when I was clearly down to double-ones. I kept saying, "Dude -- you won combat. I'm down to double ones. We don't have to do the dice counting thing." He replied: "But there's still Overkill to count!!!"

4. Not allowing me to concede the game at the end of turn 4 when I had only one unit left on the table. "It goes to turn 6," he said. He really really wanted to keep wailing on me (I think he was looking for a tabled game and bragging rights).

I should have known. I had heard this person say "I won my first game of Fantasy in 30 minutes!" and "I've only been playing Fantasy for three weeks. I've played six games and not lost a single one!" He has a great record? Terrific. But truly great gamers don't brag.

Look people -- if you are going to play any type of tabletop wargame, you have an obligation to your opponent: Provide entertainment for him/her for the entire game. She or he spent a lot of time and money on their models. They are spending a big chunk of their day with you (three hours for a 2250 Fantasy game). Be nice. Don't brag. Let your opponent concede. Offer advice. Be sympathetic.

Gil and I played against great opponents in our first game during the Doubles Tournament. I rolled horribly. Our Ogres ran and died and burned and cried. The whole time our opponents were gracious and kind and seemed to honestly feel bad. Later they said "Sure -- we wanted to win -- but not like that." The important thing is they were respectful and allowed us to laugh at ourselves. We had fun playing them even though they absolutely immolated us.

Anyway -- the moral of the story: Be nice and people will play with you. Be a jerk and you'll find yourself with fewer people to play.

'Nuff said.

*By the way, said this particular opponent is a fictional amalgam of the last few super-obnoxious people I have played against in the last month or two.